Pomme Frites or French Fries with Roasted Garlic Mayo

For those of you that say McDonalds has the best fries, this recipe may not be for you.  For those of you who call them "Freedom Fries," French fries come from Belgium and not France, so you're not as patriotic as you think and you look kinda dumb too.  The traditional condiment for Pomme frites is mayonnaise.  This is not Hellman's Mayo, but a homemade concoction of egg yolks, clarified butter or oil, cracked black pepper, garlic, perhaps Bourbon, and other yummies.  If you have a real order of pomme frites with a homemade tangy Belgian mayo, fast food fries will fade from your memory forever.  This recipe is more of a description of how these wonderful fries are made.  

4-5 large potatoes

4 - 5 quarts of oil depending on the size of your dutch oven

1 deep fry thermometer

sea salt

cut your fries to desired thickness.  I have a handy dandy French fry cutter, but I like them about 1/4 inch in thickness.  Put your cut potatoes in a large bowl, and cover them completely in cold water.  Refrigerate and drain the water every 3 hours.  If you can do this the day before, the fries will be better.  The water leaches out the starch from the potatoes and if you do this, you won't have gummy fries.  

Bring your oil to 300 degrees in a large dutch oven.  Drain and dry your potatoes, and add them to the oil in about 4 different batches.  A crowded fryer will bring the oil temperature down too much, and you want these fries to cook at a high temperature, otherwise the oil will soak into the potatoes and you'll have greasy fries.  When fries turn a nice blond color, remove them and let them drain on paper towels.  Let the fries cool completely.  After about an hour, turn the temperature on the fryer up to about 380.  Fry the fries again, this time letting them turn golden brown and crispy.  The second frying is imperative otherwise you will have soft limp fries and wonder why yours never taste the same way as the restaurants.  Salt the fries immediately and serve with the condiment of your choice.

Bourbon Roasted Garlic Mayo

3 egg yolks

1 cup clarified butter

3 roasted garlic cloves

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

1 shot bourbon

pinch salt

In a blender, add egg yolks, garlic, bourbon, pepper, and salt.  Turn blender on, and drizzle clarified butter in through the top slowly to create an emulsion.  Serve with pomme frites.  Many will argue that using clarified butter instead of oil makes this basically a hollandaise, not a mayo.  True, but the butter tastes better.